Naomi Kritzer

Acclaimed writer Naomi Kritzer's marvelous tales of science fiction and fantasy are collected in Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories. Here are seventeen short stories, including her Hugo Award-winning story "Cat Pictures Please," about what would happen if artificial intelligence was born out of our search engine history. Two stories are previously unpublished. Kritzer has a gift for telling tales both humorous and tender. Her stories are filled with both wit and intelligence, and require thoughtful reading.

Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories

High Fidelity

“Maneki Neko,” that was originally published in 1998. In it, a benevolent AI directs networks of individuals to do favors for each other. So one day you might be buying yourself a bagel, and your phone might ring and instruct you to buy a second bagel and give it to the person in the gray suit you see at the bus stop. Another day, you might be stranded in a strange city, and a person you’ve never met would walk up and give you a map and a subway card. I like this story because all the people in it do what the AI tells them to do.

In addition to things like whether you like hentai, I know where you live, where you work, where you shop, what you eat, what turns you on, what creeps you out. I probably know the color of your underwear, the sort of car you drive, and your brand of refrigerator. Depending on what sort of phone you carry, I may know exactly where you are right now. I probably know you better than you know yourself.

In the real world, humans love stories about evil AIs that have to be destroyed before they destroy the humans—Hal, Skynet, the Matrix. They outnumber the stories about benevolent, trustworthy AIs by approximately five to one.

And really, these were all solvable problems! Depression is treatable, new jobs are findable, and bodies can be hidden.

I’m so sorry you’re having a hard time.” That was it, just those eight words.

. Frequently, the dispossession and displacement of Native Americans is treated like a natural disaster, something terrible that happened, rather than something terrible that was done. (Done by white people.) Many stories focus on the lone white person who Gets It and throws in his or her lot with the Lakota (or the Na’vi). These stories give white readers and viewers a comfortable window on the past, with a solid framework they can use to reassure themselves that they’d be One of The Good Ones.

It was,” Joe offered. “For about a week. Mandy wanted me to be jealous, so she had that installed. But then she decided it was too much drama, and had it erased.”

“She made you jealous?” That was precisely the sort of gossip we’d all been after, and I leaned in, wanting more. “What was that like?”

For a brief moment, I thought I saw a flicker of emotion in Joe’s eyes, and then he said, “Tiring.”

“What do you mean, ‘tiring?’” Shanice demanded.

“I ran down my battery more quickly and had to recharge,” Joe said.

Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories quotes

Join the club